“What Remains” – Mixed Media
By Maegan Carroll
It takes a lot of faith to become an artist; Faith in your work, faith in God, and faith in yourself. As a Christian artist, one of the biggest questions you may ask is, “Why do I have these gifts?” and “How do I relate this to God’s purpose for my life?” These are a few questions that Rachel Stewart, professor of Advanced Illustration at Southeastern University, has answered through her experiences.
Rachel is an accomplished artist and a devoted follower of Christ. Throughout Rachel’s life she has been able to grow and learn through teaching and creating art.
Coming from a very strict Christian upbringing, Rachel was taught by her parents the importance of prayer and scriptural reading. “Every morning before we went out the door to school all three sisters gathered together as my father prayed over our lives,” says Rachel.
When Rachel was thirteen a tragic incident took place that would mark her life for years to come, the passing away of her mother due to breast cancer.
Five years later her father remarried and Rachel received a stepmother that she would grow to love and respect. Rachel says, “Today Mollie, soon to be 104, exemplifies how God wants us to love.”
Rachel fell in love with art, especially drawing, at the Christian high school she attended. There she learned techniques that would help her create works of art. During her senior year Rachel entered an art contest that would change her life.
“In an innocent step of faith,” says Rachel, “I prayed that if I won this contest, this would be a sign that I should be come an artist.”
Rachel won the contest and then applied to Boston University College of Fine Art. Four years later she graduated with her Bachelor of Fine Art in sculpture.
After graduation Rachel was offered a job teaching art at an after-school community for at risk children. “While teaching the young kids, I saw how art was an essential part of developing their expression,” says Rachel.
Later, Rachel would move to Jamaica where she would live for twenty years and start a family, marrying a Jamaican man and having a daughter named Naomi.
Edna Manley College of the Visual Arts in Jamaica is where Rachel worked teaching. While there, Rachel completed three wall murals in the capitol of Kingston. She also had her work exhibited in many galleries and won a number of awards, things that she considers to be her largest accomplishments in art.
Rachel says “The twenty years I lived there are the most important years of my life, not only in my development as an artist and person, but also when I came back to know the Lord in a special community of Christian people.”
Another of Rachel’s accomplishments was returning back to the U.S. and earning her Master’s Degree. Later finding her way to Southeastern University where she now teaches Advanced Illustration.
Rachel receives her inspiration from many things, “Social change, lives that have been dramatically transformed, women’s issues, the human figure and how it moves, nature’s creations, identity, culture to name a few. But during the last ten years of my life, I am inspired by spiritual truths that come out of the Word of God, either through story or specific verses or concepts. I am intrigued by ideas of personal restoration, renewal, transformation, and regeneration- things that God works within our lives to bring us back to His redemptive grace and love.”
One of Rachel’s biggest challenges was to understand why she was given a passion and talent for art, and how she could apply this to God’s purpose for her life. During the many years Rachel has spent as an artist God has helped her to answer her questions.
“When I was in Jamaica and heard the teaching from scripture about Bezalel and Oholiab in Exodus 35:30-36, my eyes and heart were open–it was a revelation about who I was in Christ.”
Rachel also found inspiration from Francis Schaeffer’s book Art and the Bible. Rachel states, “This inspiring book helped me to pull my fragmented life as an artist and my other life as a Christian into a whole person. I struggled to give this talent to God because for years it had been mine—it was a true awakening to His grace and love.”
Rachel found her purpose in art as a “re-creator.” “I can plant the seed through the title of my works and answer the question a viewer might have about the meaning of art.”
Rachel is a great example of how a Christian artist can use their talents to present their experiences and faith to others.
“Go Back and Return” – Mixed Media
“Have You Seen Us?” – Drawing
“His Hand” – Sculpture
“Maoko” – Sculpture
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